2023 Alter Ego de Palmer Margaux - 6x75cl
- Red
- 2026 - 2038
- Château Palmer
- 6x75cl
- Margaux, Red Bordeaux
- Available Now
-
Goedhuis Waddesdon, April 2024, Score: 92-94
This second wine once again punches well above its weight. Almost equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, it’s impossible not to be lured in by the delicately perfumed nose, where accents of violets and irises are complimented by sweet blackberry and blackcurrant notes. On the palate there is a laidback elegance to the wine, the fine-grained tannins waiting patiently behind its velvet-like texture. Early-drinking excellence.
-
Neal Martin, April 2024, Score: 92-94
The 2023 Alter Ego represents one-third of the crop, coming exclusively from gravel soil and picked at 32hL/ha. It displays a very deep purple hue. The bouquet is notably opulent, with the Merlot very expressive and shaping the aromatics at the moment. Hints of cassis and violets lurk beneath, perhaps needing a little more delineation. The palate is actually cut from a slightly different cloth, more restrained and a touch spicier than expected. Graphite and tobacco emerge toward the finish, as if the reins have been passed over to the Cabernet component. This will be fascinating to revisit in bottle—I would just like to see more aromatic composure. Drink 2028-2048.
-
-
Antonio Galloni, April 2024, Score: 93-95
The 2023 Alter Ego is plump, juicy and super-expressive. Soft, silky tannins enshroud a core of plum, red cherry, spice, menthol and mocha. All the elements are so nicely balanced. A burst of red-toned fruit and spice lingers on a finish lifted by bright acids. This is such a sensual Alter Ego. Drink 2028-2043.
-
-
Wine Advocate, April 2024, Score: 92-94
Wafting from the glass with pure aromas of cherries, berries, plums and potpourri, the 2023 Alter Ego de Palmer is medium to full-bodied, bright and vibrant, with a vigorous core of fruit framed by supple tannins. It's a blend of 53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 43% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot.
-
-
James Suckling, April 2024, Score: 95-96
This is dense and velvety with a creamy texture. Blackberry, blueberry and stone aromas and flavors. Layered. Very primary and focused. 53% cabernet sauvignon, 43% merlot and 4% petit verdot.
-
-
Matthew Jukes, April 2024, Score: 18.5+
There was a lot of mildew pressure, as we know, in 2023, but Palmer is used to reacting exceptionally quickly, and they handled it well. By the beginning of August, there were healthy 40 hl/ha crops planned, but they lost 20% by the time harvest came around. Terroir, luck and interpretation (yes, those humans again) made more critical decisions than usual during September, and the question of when to restart harvest after stopping for a week was a massive call. As you will read from my note on the Grand Vin, this is one of the most compelling pairs of wines of the year, and I rarely hand out 18.5 scores for second wines, but Alter Ego is a spectacular being. Stunningly luxurious and controlled, two rigid and immovable attacks occur of devastating acidity and super fresh tannins. This is as exciting and nerve-shredding as the finish on any wine aside from Palmer, making Alter Ego a sublime wine.
-
-
Goedhuis Waddesdon, April 2024, Score: 92-94
This second wine once again punches well above its weight. Almost equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, it’s impossible not to be lured in by the delicately perfumed nose, where accents of violets and irises are complimented by sweet blackberry and blackcurrant notes. On the palate there is a laidback elegance to the wine, the fine-grained tannins waiting patiently behind its velvet-like texture. Early-drinking excellence.
Read more
Need help? Call +44 (0)20 7793 7900 or email wine@goedhuiswaddesdon.com.
2008 Ch Palmer 3ème Cru Margaux - 12x75cl
- Red
- 2015 - 2035
- Château Palmer
- 12x75cl
- Margaux, Red Bordeaux
- Available Now
-
Goedhuis, April 2009, Score: 90-92
Super silky and utterly appealing, the 2008 delivers a finely tuned, poised palate that offers loads of sexy curves yet with a mineral core and a fresh finish. Produced with an significant amount of Merlot (51%), it was a favourite of Jancis Robinson, who gave it an impressive 18 points (beating the 17.5+ she gave for Margaux).
-
Goedhuis, April 2009, Score: 90-92
Super silky and utterly appealing, the 2008 delivers a finely tuned, poised palate that offers loads of sexy curves yet with a mineral core and a fresh finish. Produced with an significant amount of Merlot (51%), it was a favourite of Jancis Robinson, who gave it an impressive 18 points (beating the 17.5+ she gave for Margaux).
-
-
Robert Parker, May 2011, Score: 94
A stunning success for the vintage, and possibly the Margaux of the year, this wine, which achieved 13.5% natural alcohol, is a blend of 51% Merlot, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon and 8% Petit Verdot. Loads of barbecue smoke, licorice, incense, blackberry, new saddle leather and forest floor notes jump from the glass of this dense, purple-colored wine. Extraordinarily intense and full-bodied, with plenty of tannin, but not the formidable structure of the 2010, this is going to be one of the longest-lived wines of 2008. It is full, rich, layered, and should be reasonably approachable with 3-4 years of bottle age, and will also keep for 30+ years. Drink: 2014 - 2044
-
-
Robert Parker, April 2009, Score: 95-97
The 2008 Palmer, which tips the scales at 13.5% natural alcohol (among the highest achieved at this property), is a blend of 51% Merlot, 41% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 8% Petit Verdot. It is a massively rich wine with an inky/purple color, sensational density of fruit, velvety tannins, a glorious bouquet of black fruits, licorice, incense, and subtle barbecue smoke, a superb, full-bodied mouthfeel, and a fabulous texture and length. With several minutes of swirling, an enticing floral note emerges. The wine's glycerin and sweetness suggest it will be approachable 3-4 years afterbottling, yet keep for three decades or more. It appears to be among the finest Palmers made this decade, rivaling both the 2005 and 2000. Drink: 2012 - 2042
-
-
Jancis Robinson, April 2009, Score: 18
Dark and glowing. Quite grown up and sophisticated. Draws you in on the nose - much more compelling than most 2008s. Sweet start - 51% Merlot! - very unusually high for 2008 and for Palmer. The opposite of Ch Margaux. Actually quite Ornellaia like, very soft and rich. Very seductive and lively. With velvety texture. Neat and energetic. Cool, even slightly minty. Really lots of pleasure. Even if quite unusual. The Palmer team love it - not least because it was so difficult. Italian bite. (Not that this will be a popular tasting note in Margaux.) Quite electric.
-
-
Wine Spectator, April 2009, Score: 89-92
Shows blackberry and black cherry, with hints of currant. Full-bodied, with firm tannins and a solid core. Long and fruity.
Read more
Need help? Call +44 (0)20 7793 7900 or email wine@goedhuiswaddesdon.com.
1999 Ch Palmer 3ème Cru Margaux - 12x75cl
- Red
- 2006 - 2025
- Château Palmer
- 12x75cl
- Margaux, Red Bordeaux
- Available Now
-
Robert Parker, April 2002, Score: 95
The 1999 is the greatest Palmer made since 1961, 1966, 1970, 1983, and 1989. It is one of the superstars of the vintage. The wine is a blend of 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, and 6% Petit Verdot. It boasts a staggering bouquet of violets and other spring flowers intermixed with licorice, black currants, and subtle wood. Only 50% of the production made it into the grand vin. This is a multidimensional, compelling effort with both power and elegance, it offers sweet tannin along with flavors that caress the palate, and a 45-second finish. This is terrific stuff! Anticipated maturity: 2004-2025.
-
Robert Parker, April 2002, Score: 95
The 1999 is the greatest Palmer made since 1961, 1966, 1970, 1983, and 1989. It is one of the superstars of the vintage. The wine is a blend of 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, and 6% Petit Verdot. It boasts a staggering bouquet of violets and other spring flowers intermixed with licorice, black currants, and subtle wood. Only 50% of the production made it into the grand vin. This is a multidimensional, compelling effort with both power and elegance, it offers sweet tannin along with flavors that caress the palate, and a 45-second finish. This is terrific stuff! Anticipated maturity: 2004-2025.
-
-
Robert Parker, April 2001, Score: 92-94
A brilliant success, Palmer's 1999 is a blend of 46% Merlot, 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 6% Petit Verdot (only 58% of the harvest made it into the final wine), it boasts an opaque blue/purple color as well as sweet aromas of licorice, jammy cassis, smoke, lead pencil, and minerals. Surprisingly tannic for the vintage, this muscular, gorgeously proportioned, classic effort should be one of the wines of the vintage ... at least in the Medoc. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2025.
-
-
Robert Parker, April 2000, Score: 90-93
Palmer, which harvested between September 17 and October 1, has produced one of the vintage's stars. Much of the Merlot came in before the heavy rain, and the fruit was so ripe this is the first vintage in over thirty years in which there was no need to chaptalize. The blend, 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 46% Merlot, and 6% Petit Verdot, has produced a dense, opaque purple-colored wine with an opulent personality. Drink: 2000 - 2020.
-
-
Clive Coates, April 2003, Score: 19
Full colour. Very lovely nose. Gently oaky. Rich and complex, profound and elegant. This is super. Medium-full body. Quietly complex and composed. Really splendid ripe, rich, concentrated, multi-dimensional fruit. Very harmonious. Very long. Very fine plus. Drink: 2009 - 2025+
Read more
Need help? Call +44 (0)20 7793 7900 or email wine@goedhuiswaddesdon.com.
2010 Ch Palmer 3ème Cru Margaux - 12x75cl
- Red
- 2021 - 2070
- Château Palmer
- 12x75cl
- Margaux, Red Bordeaux
- Available Now
-
Goedhuis, April 2011, Score: 95-97
With 54% Merlot in the finished blend this is a wonderfully contrasting style to its next door neighbour Ch Margaux. Intensely opaque in colour, this is full of brambles and plums on the nose; in the mouth it is intense and concentrated, with a bright freshness on the finish. DR
-
Goedhuis, April 2011, Score: 95-97
With 54% Merlot in the finished blend this is a wonderfully contrasting style to its next door neighbour Ch Margaux. Intensely opaque in colour, this is full of brambles and plums on the nose; in the mouth it is intense and concentrated, with a bright freshness on the finish. DR
-
-
Neal Martin, April 2020, Score: 96
The 2010 Palmer has an outgoing, intense and multifaceted bouquet with black cherries, boysenberry, crushed violets and hints of cassis - your quintessential Margaux turned up to eleven. The palate is medium-bodied with very supple tannins and a fine bead of acidity. Headier than its Margaux peers, it builds in the mouth with a complex, marine-tinged finish with cracked black pepper lingering on the aftertaste. This is an outstanding Palmer but it needs more time in bottle. Drink 2026 - 2070
-
-
Neal Martin, March 2011, Score: 92-94
The 2010 Palmer is a blend of 54% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot, delivering 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.65. This has a very pure bouquet where the Cabernet Sauvignon is again, dominating the aromatics: blackberry, boysenberry and a touch of graphite. The palate is full-bodied with mineral-rich black fruits, very linear and focused, but there is just a touch of alcohol blurring the finish and taken the edge off it its precision.
-
-
Robert Parker, February 2013, Score: 98+
The 2010 Palmer is one of the superstars of the vintage, a blend of 54% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot, which is just slightly different than what I indicated two years ago. The alcohol level hit 14.5%, and the wine comes across like a more stacked-and-packed version of their 2000. It is tannic and backward, but has a sensational black/purple color and a gorgeous nose of camphor, barbecue smoke, blackberry and cassis. Full-bodied, with oodles of glycerin but a relatively healthy pH, this wine has a precision and freshness that belie its lofty alcohol and extravagant concentration. This is a sensationally rich, full-throttle Palmer that could well end up being one of the all-time great wines made at this estate. It needs a good 7-10 years of cellaring and should keep for 50 or more years. There’s no question that Thomas Duroux and the staff at Palmer are producing wines of first-growth quality, and have been for nearly a decade.
-
-
Robert Parker, May 2011, Score: 95-97
The 2010 Palmer, which is 50% Merlot and the rest mostly Cabernet Sauvignon except for 6% Petit Verdot, is a huge, inky/purple-colored wine with notes of camphor, incense, blackberry, espresso roast, and subtle barbecue smoke. Extremely full-bodied and unbelievably powerful (14.5% natural alcohol, but with a rather standard pH of 3.75), this wine is going to be one of the great classics ever to emerge from this iconic chateau. It is extremely tannic, but the tannins are eclipsed by the extravagant concentration of fruit, unctuosity, and density of this wine. This will be a Chateau Palmer to put away for 10 years and drink over the following 40+. Drink: 2021 - 2061
-
-
James Suckling, April 2011, Score: 97-98
This nose is crazy with treacle tart, dark fruits, spices and milk chocolate. I was in a state of amazement tasting this. Full bodied and very powerful with wonderful ripe tannins and intense nuts and dark chocolate on the palate. This is more powerful than 2009. I am blown away.
-
-
Decanter, April 2020, Score: 98
One of the great years of Bordeaux now at 10 years old and showing why this is such an unusual vintage in terms of the depth of structure and muscular concentration that was achieved. In fact, I am upping the drinking window from the last time I tasted this, as there is such a pulse of life and grip that shows no signs of going anywhere. The initial layers are starting to be peeled back, but this retains primary black and blue fruits that are still full of flesh alongside baked earth, tons of liquorice and black chocolate with a grippy tannic structure, fresh acidities and a serious attitude. Brilliant stuff, that is clearly going to power on for decades. Drinking Window 2022 – 2048. Jane Anson.
-
-
Decanter, April 2011, Score: 19.5
Superb richness and already showing a velvety texture, wonderful freshness and flavours that keep on growing, a magnificent Palmer. Drink 2020-2050
-
-
Jancis Robinson, April 2011, Score: 18
54% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot. Very dark purple. Amazingly sweet and luscious on the nose. Incredibly sweet and distinctive – pure pleasure at first. Very round and luscious and has massive polish. Incredibly open at this stage – will it close up, I wonder? But underneath, a great stew of tannins lurk..! Great freshness but no leafiness. This is already carrying the Palmer hallmark in spades and its only on the finish that one sees the strong vintage character. Nothing excessive. pH 3.65. 14.5%. Drink 2018-2040
-
-
Wine Spectator, April 2011, Score: 95-98
This dense red offers a big core of currant, plum and cassis, with lots of buried violet and anise. Really loaded on the back end, this is very muscular, but still velvety. Features saturated fruit on the finish, but stays restrained. Should be very long-lived. Tasted non-blind. -J.M
-
-
Wine Cellar Insider, April 2020, Score: 97
Compelling aromatics set off by flowers, blackberries, truffle and black licorice. In the mouth, the texture is pure silk and velvet. The wine is refined, polished, soft, fresh and elegant, with a long, sweet, fresh, rich, sensuous finish that remains on your palate for close to 40 seconds. The wine was made from a blend of 54% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot, the wine reached 14.5% alcohol.
Read more
Need help? Call +44 (0)20 7793 7900 or email wine@goedhuiswaddesdon.com.
